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Make Your Voice Heard as DCO Plans for the Future

31 January 2017

Watch your email inbox! Please open a message entitled: This is your opportunity to shape the Deep Carbon Observatory from David Karns (karnsd [at] si [dot] edu) from the Smithsonian Institution, which is conducting the survey on behalf of DCO's Task Force 2020. There you will find a unique link to a survey that will allow you to map out the future of international, collaborative research in the field of deep carbon science. We encourage you to participate so your views are heard.

by Claude Jaupart, Chair, DCO Task Force 2020

The Deep Carbon Observatory seeks your input as it plans for the future. Since its inception in 2009, the Deep Carbon Observatory has grown from a small group of researchers into a large and vibrant international community of scientists, with approximately 1000 collaborators in 35 countries.

DCO began as a 10-year program with core support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. After Sloan support ends in 2019, the deep carbon community must decide how it will continue. To help plan for the future of deep carbon science, DCO launched Task Force 2020 (TF2020). This group aims to identify structures, organizations, and research ventures that define deep carbon science, and to develop and sustain DCO’s international community of researchers. The goal is not necessarily to perpetuate DCO in its current form, but instead to find ways of capitalizing on key instrumentation, facilities, resources, and monitoring networks in ways that will allow deep carbon science to continue to thrive.

As part of this planning process, TF2020 is seeking feedback from the DCO community. To obtain input and advice, TF2020 is distributing a questionnaire—prepared by the Smithsonian Office of Policy and Analysis and TF2020—to all members of the DCO Science Network. We need your thoughts and suggestions to shape the future of deep carbon science, and strongly encourage you to take the time to provide your feedback.

The Deep Carbon Observatory (DCO) is a global community of multi-disciplinary scientists unlocking the inner secrets of Earth through investigations into life, energy, and the fundamentally unique chemistry of carbon.